Friendship beyond Stars
by H2S2O3
Summary: After encountering a space anomaly, Three UFP citizens were brought to Equestria and left with no means to go back. In a completely foreign world, how will they socialize with the locals? Will they receive friendship from ponies?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Science officer's log, Stardate 57032.3. Commander Donner, Dr. Hofmann and I are en route to the second asteroid orbiting Kamus I. Due to tricorder malfunction, our investigation into the unknown EM source on the first asteroid was postponed for two hours. It is only logical to assume that the next source will be as unpredictable as the last one."

Lieutenant T'mor stood up, holding a tablet in her left hand and a tricorder in the other, walked to the aft quarter of the shuttle Helios. They had left USS Maxwell for six hours, and had not yet seemed to be near the end of the away mission. After an strange EM signal appeared on the long range sensor, Captain ordered the crew to set course to have a look. The signal appears to be originated from three different asteroids orbiting a black hole. That is when she and the two humans went on an away mission.

Dr. Hofmann was reading the recent recording when T'mor knocked. He answered the door dismissively, not bothering to look up.

"Doctor, I find the reading very troubling. According to it, There doesn't seem to have anything that can emit EM signal." Handing the tablet to the doctor, T'mor said, "An intriguing anomaly."

"Intriguing, Indeed. That is why I love the job as on board scientist. There's so much to learn, to explore in the vast universe." Dr. Hofmann, a little distracted, answered after a short pause. He took the tablet and smiled to the Vulcan. In return, T'mor nodded, and was about to say something, when she was interrupted by the comm.

"Lieutenant, doctor, please report to helm immediately."

Seconds later, in the forward section, a concerning commander welcomed them with a haste sentence. "We are in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" replied the science officer. Judging by his look, something disastrous must have happened. One glance to the console answered her question quickly. A space shift the size of USS Maxwell was less than five kilometres away, dead ahead, and closing in them fast. Helios was being dragged to it under the force of space shift like a twig flowing down stream to the horrifying waterfall.

"It came from nowhere!" exclaimed Commander Donner, "It just materialize in the front and begin to suck us in. We need to turn around." As if there was a curse of bad fortune, the siren went off, alerting the failure of structure integrity.

They must act quickly. Commander Donner tried to turn the shuttle about, while T'mor diverting more power to hold the ship in one piece. With every metre closer, holding structure requires more power, which means less power to escape. Soon, they were left with two options: be crushed on site, or be pulled into the ominous rift. It appears only luck can save them.

"OK, there's no escaping it. Hold on to something!" Commander Donner shouted over the warning siren, after launching a distress beacon via aft torpedo launcher.

The three of them fastened their seat belts and braced themselves as they were dragged into the unknown darkness.


	2. Chapter One: Crushing and Meeting

Chapter One: Crushing and Meeting

It was just like walking through a door. Well, at least like walking through a door while escaping the building when the building is collapsing. On the other side, the ever-present darkness of space welcomed them, though if not in such a desperate situation, they will notice the lack of stars. What caught their eyes is a blue planet in front of them, like a log will catch the eye of a drowning man.

"Main power failure!" shouted T'mor. "We are losing main engine and stabilizer. I'm diverting power from backup generator."

"It's no use! We are still under the pressure from the rift. It's like being pushed forward. It's impossible to pull up. I must attempt an emergency landing!" commander shouted back. As an adept pilot, Commander William Donner had an instinct for flight. Though encountered numerous incidents, he had never brought anyone on board to harm. Unfortunately, that record seemed to end today.

"It's a class M planet. We can land on the continent on the northern hemisphere." said Dr. Hofmann from the sensor console. "The air is composed of 22% oxygen and 78% helium, 0.96 times Earth gravity. Hold on, there's…"the console dimed all of a sudden, interrupted the doctor. "Oh, no. sensor offline"

The shuttle Helios dived into the atmosphere, tumbling. Seconds after the entry, it was engulfed by a giant fireball. Suddenly, the shuttle pulled up changing to a less frightening angle, two dots of white flame visible by its sides. All the while, it appeared to be more in control, than in the mercy of the Law of Gravity.

"Power surge detected, a huge EM wave hit us. Circuit will fry in seconds!" doctor alerted from the back seat. True to his words, all console shut down merely seconds later. It was when the free fall started. "Brace yourselves!" commanded Donner, "We are crushing."

Helios was gliding down, barely evading a steep cliff, with an angle of about 30 degrees, towards a forest near a plain. Fire ball had receded, but the velocity was still scaring. The abdomen contacted the trees, causing the shuttle to leap up then crushed to the surface face down. It slid forward upside-down for about a hundred metres, and stopped in front of a row of trees, and rolled back up.

Silence fell upon them as they were recovering from the impact. Moments later, T'mor cracked her eyes open. "Are you alright?" She was answered by the sound of seat belt unfastening. "I'm fine, some little bruises of course. What about the commander?"

A quick check on him turned out not so good. "He seems to be in coma, probably concussion as well." She turned to the doctor, "He requires medical treatment, help me lie him down."

"I'm afraid there's no time. We've got a plasma fire in the cabin." He pointed to the aft quarter. A green fire, like polar aurora, was sweeping across the shuttle swiftly. "We need to evacuate to outside, NOW!" The doctor rushed to the door and swung if open. The difference of air pressure pushed him out, leaving him with drumming in the ear. Meanwhile, T'mor untied her superior and carried him out on her back. When she cleared the shuttle, it was already consumed by fire.

Leaving a hundred metres between them and the burning shuttlecraft, she lied him down under a tree. For she and Dr. Hofmann, it was only scratches and bruises. But the commander's situation was a lot worse, given that his head slammed on to the console upon the second impact. What's worse, they didn't have any medical supplies with them in such a hurry.

A boom caused them to snap up, staring at the smoldered wreckage of what's left of Helios. Pieces of metal scattered all around it.

"Oh. That's the worst possible thing. What more could happen?"

"First things first. After the fire dies out, I will see if I can salvage any medical equipment and supplies .Judging from the equal distance between these trees, we are very likely to meet sapient species on this planet. We must make full preparations, should they be hostile against us, or worse, a pre-warp civilization. Wait, who's there?" T'mor turned to northeast, pointing to the sky.

Up in the sky, a blue creature was circling the crush site at a high altitude. It had a pair of wings with a prism colour tail trailing behind. Soon, it was joined by another yellow one who seemed to be the same species, a species unfamiliar to both of them.

"Quick, hide!" T'mor whispered, while carrying the commander below the tree. "they may be hostile." However, they were still spotted, as the blue one took one glance their direction and dived towards them, for the red shirt of commander was really a drawback when you are trying to go unnoticed. In a blink of eye, the blue creature stood in front of them. Both sides stared at the other, alert, ready to attack or flee.

The blue creature, a quadruped, was very similar to a horse, or rather, pony, except the short, more human face, a pair of bird-like wings, and of course, prismatic colours. It stood at about eighty centimetres tall, though the mane-like hair made it hard to tell. If not in such a tense moment, Dr. Hofmann might find its large eyes, as well as other parts of it, adorable and reminded him of character in cartoons. No sharp tooth and claw, indicating its herbivore nature, usually means limited hostility. The mane of it was obviously styled, another proof that it was intelligent, as well as that it just spoke in a language that neither Vulcan nor human understood.

"What did it say? My Combadge is broken. Probably because of the EM burst." asked the doctor.

"Mine too. We have to do it the old-fashioned way." Turning to the alien, she said slowly "We mean you no harm. We come from the United Federation of Planets. My name is T'mor and this is Doctor Johann Hofmann. Do you understand me?" With that, she spread out her hand to show that she held nothing, as in standard gesture taught in the Academy.

The alien seemed to be a little at ease, though still confused, stepped up a little. The yellow one with pink mane landed behind it and exchanged a few words, before took off and flew away, maybe calling more of its kind, acting like the two humanoid would sprang at it and eat it alive the whole time. It was time to make diplomacy and earn their trust, at least dissipate their potential hostility. So T'mor raised her hand and posed a typical Vulcan hand gesture. "Live long and prosper."

At the sight of her raising hands, the alien startled a little and seemed ready to flee, but with no further movement, it soon relaxed and realized what did they mean to do. She walked cautiously to them stopping two steps away before, to their surprise, extended its hoof to her. T'mor went still for a moment, and took its hoof in her hand, shook slightly. Hofmann watched from the back intently, taking mental note of everything about the alien pony. T'mor, on the other hand, was more composed, for both her training back at the academy and Vulcan mental discipline. Were she a human, she must be amused by the scene before her.

"Just like when Vulcan met Human." She thought to herself.


	3. Chapter Two: Settling Down

Chapter Two: Settling down

"Science officer's log, Stardate 57032.7. First contact with the alien went well, though we still cannot understand each other's language. I went back to the wreckage an hour ago and salvaged a tricorder and several tablets. Unfortunately, all medical equipment and supplies were destroyed in the explosion. Commander Donner has to to recover on his own. There is not much we can do to help him."

T'mor saved her log in the tablet and stood up, and looked towards west. The sun, a G-type star like Sol, was now minutes away from the horizon. Perhaps they should push their luck and seek help from these aliens. After all, they didn't seem to be xenophobia.

The aliens, or ponies, in a closer look, had something like tattoo on their flank. For example, the blue ponies had a cloud and with a rainbow-coloured lightning mark. "It might be a symbol for social status." She thought to herself. Given its mystical flying ability (just how can a mammal this big fly and perform aerial maneuver with such an agility?) and horse-like anatomy, "Pegasus" can be a suitable name for the speice.

had finished tending to Commander Donner and left him rest on the ground. The blue one (or Rainbow, thought T'mor, named after her prismatic mane and tattoo) was watching curiously by their side the whole time. It may be the best time to ask for help.

"Do you have any water?" asked T'mor, gesturing for a cup and drinking. Whatever she acted like, it obviously didn't understand and looked at her blankly. Before she could make another effort to express herself, they were interrupted by the sound of galloping.

Hearing something approaching from deep in the trees, they all turned to the sound and found a purple pony running towards them with the earlier yellow one in tow. The purple one had a horn on her forehead, as well as a pair of wings. Hofmann looked at these pony aliens, dazzled, didn't know what to say, while T'mor found her recent theory overthrown, was trying to come up with a new one. The three ponies gathered around ten paces away and started to exchange opinions and glance at them every now and then. It appeared that the purple pony (or Star, as in its tattoo) gave a final decision and walked straight to her (the horn might mean leader or superior).

"X'uan-jng redo hsao'mago." It said, a wide smile on its face. "tsng genou rai." With that, it pointed her hoof to the direction they just came. It seemed to invite the three humanoid to come with them, as the other two ponies set out to the same way. Hofmann stepped up and asked, "Are they inviting us to come with them? It seems so to me."

"A logical assumption. I see no reason to stay." replied T'mor. Hofmann picked up all the devices and T'mor carried Donned on her back. He nodded to the Star, who seemed to suddenly realize that they understood each other, cracked a huge smile before it turned and lead on.

* * *

After about half kilometre's walk they arrived at a clearing. On the edge of the clearing planted some vegetables, and a house and what seemed to be a barn is situated in the middle, surrounded by fence. They were led to the outside of the house, with a total of six ponies present, including the three appeared earlier. Thought it was getting dark, T'mor found two ponies, one orange and one pink, did not have any "accessory attachment", that were, wing and horn. There was also a pony with only a horn, who, at a glance, just like a unicorn in the myth.

Star said something to all ponies and then turned to them, saying, "Ni'mn hsyujau shuei ma?" ,and pointed to the door. From her basic alien linguistic lesson, T'mor knew that a change of tone usually means a question (or a threat). Whatever they meant, it could be an offer to help, for they had not yet been attacked. So, yes.

She nodded, and from the earlier encounter, they already knew that that means "yes". So Star pulled the door open, holding, and gestured for them to come in, which turned out impossible, for humans and the Vulcan too tall to fit in. The orange pony (Apple?) trot in and soon came out with a bucket of water on her back. It placed the bucket down near a table which had several cups on it, and disappeared into the house. Before Hofmann could take a cup and drink, T'mor stopped him. "We need to check the chemical nature of it first, in case it contains harmful minerals or microorganism."

Luckily, it didn't. So after lay down Donner, both of them rehydrated themselves as well as wet Donner's lips. Minutes later, Apple came out carrying a tray with three plates on its back, each containing a pie-shaped baked food. They soon scanned and made sure the food was safe to consume and began to eat.

Hofmann was too hungry to notice the curious eyes of the ponies before he finished his pie. Only then did he realize that the six ponies were all wide-eyed and mouth open. He nudged T'mor. "Is it me, or are they amazed at the tricorder?"

"They seem to be very curious. After all, they have never met the Federation. Which reminds me, we may have violated the Prime Directive, for these pony aliens appear to be unfamiliar with technology this advance."

"I'm not with Starfleet, so that is not my problem." Hofmann said. He was not one for these regulations and rules, only the desire to understand more kept him on board a Starfleet vessel. "We should check on Commander Donner."

"He will be fine. Most human cannot eat or drink after a concussion without triggering nausea. What he now needs most is rest and it is our job to keep him hydrated. I believe our next step should be communicating with these aliens and find a way to contact with Starfleet."

Standing up from the seat, T'mor walked to the ponies. "Thank you for your hospitality." She stretched out a hand gesturing the food and water.

"Mei tse'me" answered Apple, flashing a smile.

* * *

"science officer's log, Stardate 57032.9. Fortunately for us, these ponies seems to be very similar to us. Most elements of human society can find their counterparts here easily. As for us, We have been arranged to settle in the barn for the night. Commander Donner's condition has improved, and I believe he will wake up soon. As for our universal translator, they are damaged beyond my capability to repair, so we have to leave them to commander, who is said to be a fine engineer."

T'mor lay on a stack of hay with a blanket as cover, shut down the tablet. Even though the internal micro-fusion battery was fully capable of running without refuel for months, it is never a bad choice to conserve power for later. On the contrary, the fusion cell for tricorder can only last about a month, rendering its energy conserving necessary.

"I haven't realized it's so exhausting." said Doctor from his haystack. "It's frightening at first, then exciting! I mean, alien ponies! Intelligent! And adorable as well."

"It is indeed not something you could encounter every day. What can you tell about them, doctor?"

"I'm a theoretical physicist, not a sociologist. Only they are friendly, and technological less advanced. By the way, call me Johann."

"If you say so, Doctor. From what I saw, they are mammal and have a society very similar to that of Earth. Plus, there're many species that are nearly identical to those on Earth. For example, have you noticed the apple trees? The apple pies? Not only that, but other customs, like body gestures, phonetic of language, architecture style, not to mention how we got settled so smoothly with only gesture."

"Much of that escaped my attention. After all, I didn't take a diplomacy class as you did. Maybe you should attempt to communicate with them, while I concentrate on how to find a to inform Starfleet where we are."

"I agree. Perhaps we should get some sleep. A lot has happened today, after all."

With that, and a quick exchange of "good night", them relaxed in their haystacks and fell asleep in seconds.


	4. Chapter Three: Language Study

Chapter Three: Language Study

"Science officer's log, Stardate 57033.9. Commander Donner woke up an hour ago. He ingested some food and water while I reported our recent encounter with the locals. He is now back to sleep, and the sun is about to rise. Today I will use my knowledge in linguistic to decipher their language, while Doctor Hofmann will try to find undamaged tools to repair our universal translator."

Looking around, Johann was still asleep, entangled in his blanket. Two glasses of water in a tray balanced on a stool functioning as a nightstand. Putting away the tablet, T'mor folded her blanket and walked out of the barn. "A big day ahead of us." She thought.

The sight of Star welcomed her, but what astonished her most was not Star itself. Beside her, there were a sheet of paper, a quill and a bottle of ink floating in the air, surrounded by a deep pink aura which also formed around Star's horn. To a Vulcan like T'mor, everything unnatural must have a scientific conclusion and not worth to show her surprise. While she was trying to come up with an explanation, Star spoke.

"Tsng genou rai." T'mor recognized this one, because Star used this sentence yesterday to ask her to follow. The purple pony led her to the table outside the house and floated two stools to them in the same aura (So that means it can control the aura like a tractor beam). They sat by the table and Star gave a piece of paper to her, using the quill to write on it. The characters she wrote were unfamiliar to her, but she soon found out they were alphabet-based not Hieroglyph-based.

"Shuei" it said, trying to use its hooves to express something, to no avail. T'mor didn't seem to understand what her meant. Then the aura appeared around the horn, levitating a glass of water to T'mor. "Shuei"

Now T'mor understood what that word means. "Water" She said slowly, made sure Star catch every syllable and wrote on the paper the equivalent of the previous word in English beside it. The first deciphered word, and hundreds to come before they can make conversation.

* * *

"Science officer's log, supplemental. The purple alien and I made the first attempt to communicate and we nailed down the translation of around a hundred words, mostly nouns. The detail of that will be included in my linguistic note. The progress is promising, for I noticed their language has many similarities with English and some other languages on Earth. I believe that in ten days, we will be able to hold decent conversations."

Before Johann stepped out of the barn, a stack of paper had been put aside near the two of them, filling with note in both English and pony language, mixed with hand-drawings. T'mor and Star, sitting side by side, were writing on a piece of paper, using the quill in turn, while T'mor taking note on a tablet. Star soon found out what a tablet can do when T'mor took down her first note. However, she soon abandoned her plan to use it as it cannot recognize pony alphabet, and had to settle with her traditional way. So when Johann first walked through the barn door, he was welcomed by the levitation aura surrounding the moving quill and floating paper.

"Ah! What is that! The pink glow!" Johann was apparently in shock, as he exclaimed and stared straight at the levitating objects, mouth wide open.

"It's a harmless aura, I presume, that allows these pony aliens to levitate matters by will. It is another phenomenon that awaits to be solved."

It took Johann a whole minute to recover. Meanwhile, Star was studying his reaction with curious eyes. Suddenly it realized that it was her pink aura that started all the exclamation and confusion, so it put down what it was holding and dissipated the aura. The doctor eventually managed to utter his awe. "Impressive! Now I like this world more. We can be the first to uncover a whole new field of science."

"I believe the same."

A series of clangs interrupted what they were about to say. Star said something to T'mor, using their note as it struggled to tell them that "morning food" is "that way".

* * *

Breakfast turned out to consist of apple-flavoured bread, apple-flavoured oatmeal, apple pies, apple tarts, apple soup, apple juice and, of course, apples. The apples here were nearly identical to those on earth, except the taste. Apples here taste a lot better than their earth counterparts to Johann.

Apple made them breakfast (T'mor explained her nicknames of ponies, to which Johann found very suitable). It appeared that Apple's family all live in that house, which include a young pony, a stronger one and an old one. All of them gathered around a large table in the backyard which was apparently just been dragged out from the kitchen.

The young pony was light yellow with red mane. It (she/he?) was very talkative , never stopped to speak with Star, while stealing some glance the humanoid guests' way. In contrast, the heavy built red pony was silent most of the times, not bothering to speak at all. The old pony, a green coat and grey mane with wrinkle, kept staring at them sceptically. The pony family structure shall be the first field to study today, thought T'mor.

Johann was still fascinated by the strange aura used by Star. He soon found out that only unicorn pony can utilize aura as the extension of hoof. The Apple family had to use their dexterous hooves to handle forks and spoons. As a result, he spent most of his breakfast staring at Star's horn and the constant moving fork.

After breakfast, Johann took some leftover and water to attend to commander Donner, while T'mor continued her study with Star. With their previous effort, they were progressing much faster. By the time Johann returned with the plate, T'mor had known their host already.

"The ponies we met at the table were Apple's young sister, big brother and grandmother. However, given our limited vocabulary, I can't translate their names. The other ponies yesterday were all her friends. I also explained that we are colleagues and are of different species, which she didn't seem to understand."

"It's alright, you are doing great. Perhaps this morning we should go see if we can recover any spare parts to fix our combadge?"

"I think so. Give me a minute to explain it to her." T'mor turned to Star and began to talk really slow while drawing on the paper. Star grasped her intention a short while later.

"Ok." Star replied, though heavily accented.

The barrier of language had been overcome, T'mor thought, we are one step closer to contact Starfleet and leave the ponies in peace.


End file.
